Chapter Fifteen

Once he was well on his way Daniel packed away his Union uniform except for the cavalry boots which were still his favorite footwear. On the long trip to Virginia, he spent hours studying the coded message and trying to find its meaning in the bible that Melissa Bridges had obtained for him.

It took him much trial and error but at last he worked out that the first four digits represented the page number. The next digit indicated either column one or column two. The next two digits showed the line number and this explained why the particular edition of the bible had line numbers down the page instead of verse numbers and finally the last digit was the word number on the line.

After working on it by firelight, where the large type helped enormously, for several nights, he finally produced this translation.

“Send best troop possible with full rebel army clothing and expert track man to town 372 stop Captain of troop to send secret progress report and collect messages at each important town on journey stop Object of journey is to capture enemy king and general stop King and general to be slain in event of rescue attempt stop Captain to be provided with not limited gold stop Known details of object travel plan as follows stop155 stop 167 stop 239 stop 253 stop 290 stop, 341 stop 362 stop 372 stop Start on 115 stop Return not known by Absalom stop”

He assumed that most of the numbers referred to towns from an index which was not available to him and the last number was a date, possibly the day number in the year but none of these numbers mattered any longer. Only one thing mattered: who was Absalom?

General Lee had taken a licking at Gettysburg and was preparing to go back on the offensive by attacking northward. Daniel had considerable difficulty in locating him and when he finally did, no-one was prepared to give him access to the General.

“I have some important intelligence for the General.” Daniel insisted.

“Give it to me and I will pass it on to him.” The major said firmly.

“Sir, I cannot do that. This intelligence is only for the General’s ears. He knows me, I am Lieutenant Daniel Beauregard and I escorted him from Gonzales in Texas.”

“The general has never been to Gonzales in Texas. I am one of his intelligence officers, I should know. If you are a lieutenant kindly note that I am a major and I am ordering you to hand over what you have for the General and also lieutenant I would like an explanation for you presenting yourself here without a uniform.”

Daniel simply turned on heel and walked away leaving the major somewhat flabbergasted at his blatant insubordination.

Daniel found himself some quarters in the town and tried to think of a way to reach the general without interference from busybodies any one of which could be, or could be connected to, the unknown Absalom.

In the end he wrote a letter to the general reminding him of the journey from Gonzales and telling him that he had important intelligence that could not be divulged to any but the general himself.

Much to his surprise, an army dispatch rider appeared at his door a few days later with a message to say that the general would see him at a reception to be held in the town on Saturday evening. A formal invitation for Lieutenant Daniel Beauregard to the reception was enclosed.

Daniel only possessed his Confederate corporal’s dress uniform and that was badly creased at the bottom of his Union Army bag so he went to a tailor in the town and explained what he wanted. The tailor was well-accustomed to tailoring uniforms for army dandies and he quickly produced what Daniel wanted in the finest cloth available.

Of course, he charged Daniel freely but Daniel was not short of money and the result was particularly elegant despite the complete lack of unit identity on the uniform. Actually, Daniel did not even know whether he had ever been listed as a lieutenant since he had no documentation to support his claim barring the engraved invitation.

On that Saturday evening, he arrived at the reception and found himself a complete stranger among people that knew each other well. Getting close to the general was not much different at the reception than it had been at Army headquarters.

The general was surrounded by sycophants and officers, all greatly outranking Daniel so that he could hardly push his way through the crowd to get to the great man.

He waited unhappily on the fringes until he felt a gentle blow upon his arm and found himself looking at the beautiful woman who had just tapped him with her fan.

“Lieutenant, you are looking somewhat lost. Would you be so kind as to bring me a glass of punch?” She was about five years his senior but her left hand carried no rings.

“Certainly, ma’am.” He bowed and went away looking for the punch bowl. He found it surrounded by officers on duties similar to his own and waited in line for his turn before drawing two cups of punch and carrying them back to where he had originally seen the lady. She was no longer there and he stood looking about him without seeing her anywhere. He was just about give up when she suddenly appeared behind him from the depths of the crowd around the general.

“Ah, there you are lieutenant. Well done! I am truly parched. Do you think you could find somewhere for us to be seated?”

He left her sipping her punch while he scouted around for chairs and found an unoccupied group behind a pillar. He hurried back to her and conducted her to the chairs.

“Do sit down lieutenant. You cannot stand around looking lost all evening, I take it that you know no one here?”

“No one except the general, ma’am.” He replied.

She laughed. “Well, you will not be able to use him as a conversationalist so you will have to settle for me. I am Mrs Jane Arbuthnot and you are?”

“I beg your pardon ma’am. You have no rings, I did not know you were married.”

“I am a widow almost from the first day of the war. You were about to disclose your name?”

“Daniel Beauregard, ma’am, at your service.”

“How nice! .... To have you at my service, I mean. I do not see any unit flashes upon your uniform, Daniel. Of what branch of the service are you?”

It was a long story but Daniel had plenty of time to tell it so he told her of Quantrill and the trip to Texas and meeting the General and his unorthodox promotion to lieutenant and his need to speak to the General but his inability to get near to him.

“Oh that is easily remedied, Daniel, finish your punch and I will take you to him.”

She was as good as her word. She took his hand and towed him through the crowd directly up to the General.

“Robert, here is a young man that has been anxious to speak to you. I believe that you are well acquainted with him?”

“Ah, yes, the redoubtable lieutenant Beauregard. Gentlemen, this is the young man that rescued me from a full troop of Union cavalry that had been sent to capture me. I have never seen the like. He predicted every move that they made. How did it all end lieutenant? Did you ambush them as you planned?”

“We did sir. We killed the Major, lieutenant, sergeant, corporal and Indian Tracker among others.”

“Note the modesty of the man, gentlemen, when he says ‘we’ he refers to himself, a cook and one of Quantrill’s irregulars. Lieutenant, I have reserved an hour for you at headquarters tomorrow at nine to enable you to provide me with this intelligence that you have gathered. Will that suit you?”

“Of course, sir, I shall be there.”

Jane drew him away and they returned to their seats.

“You said nothing about taking on a troop of cavalry virtually single-handed.’” She chided gently.

“No ma’am, one of my companions lost his life in that encounter and the other was seriously wounded: I was not single-handed.”

“You must not call me ma’am any longer, please call me Jane.”

They spent a pleasant evening together and Daniel found himself telling her all about his stay in the Union Army and how they had even promoted him until his dramatic encounter with Lieutenant Garner.

“This is too fascinating, Daniel. Please escort me home so that you can continue with your tale.”

Daniel had his stallion tied to the tailboard of her buggy and they were driven to a stately home in the best part of the town.

“Jane, you have a lovely home.” Daniel commented as they arrived.

“My late husband was very wealthy. He was related to the General by marriage and the General put him on his Headquarters staff. I would venture that the General felt very guilty when he was killed by a cannon ball aimed at the General.”

Jane had servants everywhere. Daniel was led into the house and offered a glass of excellent wine while he finished telling Jane the story of the end of his career in the Union army.

“You have had a very adventurous life, Daniel. If you enjoy playing poker, which is evident from the stories you have told me, there is a meeting here every Monday in which the stakes run rather high. I will stake you if you wish.”

“It interests me that you should have a game here. Do you play yourself?”

“I do and that is why the game is here. There are few places where a lady may join in a game of poker. It is one of the few means by which one can derive enjoyment of male company as well as the thrill of winning and the risk of losing.”

“You are a most unusual woman apart from being devilishly attractive.” Daniel said with the wine coursing through his blood.

“I am so glad that you think so, Daniel, since I find you attractive also. Why do you not spend the night with me?”

Daniel felt that he had not heard aright.

“I beg you pardon Jane but did you just..”

“Yes, I asked you to spend the night with me.”

“I cannot remember when I have had as pleasant a request.”